[ssportclay]

The Technics 1200 actually holds its value better than the Rega.It sounds OK with the stock tonearm but the high end magic doesn't happen until the tonearm upgrade.Try musiciansfriend for the $399 price.Order from KABUSA if you want the power supply installed off the bat.The tonearm upgrade with the Origin Live armboard just amounts to changing many socket head cap screws with the supplied allen wrenches.It takes about an hour and its easier than changing cartridges.Good phono stages with regulated power supplies start at about $400.I like the battery powered Hagerman Bugle @ $129 if you plan to spend less.It doesn't look like much but it sounds great.Mine has an upgraded LM4562 opamp in the U3 socket.Jim Hagerman may supply it that way if you ask him.I really could care less what audio gear looks like as long as the sound quality isn't compromised.Good turntables tend to be heavy beasts that are hard to move around.Rega tables have nice tonearms but the tables themselves are way too light to my liking.

 

[proglife]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chri5peed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Doesn't exclusively listening to vinyl, with its poor selection, make you fall into a trap. That you'd listen to albums because they're vinyl rather than because of the music?

huh?

I got into vinyl because I wanted to hear/purchase all the things I couldn't get on CD (which is a lot).

 

[esuko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by proglife /img/forum/go_quote.gif huh? I got into vinyl because I wanted to hear/purchase all the things I couldn't get on CD (which is a lot).

Same here. Probably should start to record those rare LPs in some digital format.

 

[mikeg]

After owning, and listening extensively to about the best headphone gear (HE90, R10, Supra SDS, Esoteric SA-10, etc.), I've just discovered the magical sound quality, and amazingly low price, of used vinyl. Turns out that our local library has thousands of records for sale, and they cost 25 cents (i.e., $0.25) each. Of the first fifty that I took home and cleaned, almost all (i.e., about 45) sound great. Although I haven't bothered (and won't bother) to do direct comparisons with regular CDs, and SACDs, I find that I'm really amazed, excited, and satisfied by the sound quality that I get from these old and used records that I bought at the library. Just imagine getting 40 clean-looking and great sounding vinyl records for $10. Amazing, IMO. BTW, I'm also deeply impressed by the sound quality that was clearly achieved as long as 30 years ago, when these records were made. When I asked the librarian whether the records that they are selling are old library records, I was told that they are mostly from contributed record collections from individuals, and from estates. I guess that this is the reason that so many of the records are in such great shape. I also bought about 20 records from a record warehouse in St. Petersburg, FL (Bananas Record Warehouse), at a cost of $1 each. This place is really amazing, in that it contains nearly a million vinyl records. As I did with the library records, I observed them carefully for scratches, etc., before buying. After thorough cleaning, these records also sounded great. I owe a great deal of thanks to NightWoundsTime for encouraging me to get involved with Vinly, and for telling me about the Bananas Records Warehouse. It's because I had the chance to sample Matt's beautiful vinyl rig at several Florida meets, that I became convinced that I should get involved with this alternate aspect of our hobby. In fact, it's been so much fun having this amazingly inexpensive and endless supply of vinyl recordings containing great sounding music, that I'm wondering what to do with my CD players and recordings. Seems that at least for now, I'm happy to just listen to vinyl, and leave my CD collection and players to just collect dust. I guess that time will tell whether I'll get back to them. BTW, all of my listening to vinyl is being done using studio nearfield monitors, rather than headphones. Could be that my opinion of vinyl versus CDs would differ, if I were listening to headphones.

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chri5peed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Doesn't exclusively listening to vinyl, with its poor selection, make you fall into a trap. That you'd listen to albums because they're vinyl rather than because of the music?

You've got that completely backwards. There is more music on vinyl than on any other format. I have hundreds of records that have never been released to CD.

Also, Willie Nelson is right up there with Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Ray Price as one of the most influential musicians in country music. I would bet there's a lot of music out there that you don't know about yet. Keep both your ears and your mind open to different kinds of music, and you'll learn a lot. Music is what matters.

See ya
Steve